


Don't Know Where; Don't Know When

by StarsOfCassiopeia



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: disembodiment in the magic-y way, mindscape, post-finale but not really spoilery, slightly older dipper but it's sorta vague
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-07
Updated: 2016-05-07
Packaged: 2018-06-06 21:20:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6770338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarsOfCassiopeia/pseuds/StarsOfCassiopeia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Weirdmaggedon is long since past, but the Gravity Falls weirdness bubble still hasn't burst. Dipper, as enterprising as ever, uses it to find a back door into the mindscape. But he's just paranoid, right? It's been years, and nothing has happened... nothing <i>will</i> happen...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Don't Know Where; Don't Know When

**Author's Note:**

> A "I wrote this in 20 minutes when I was supposed to be writing a paper for class" drabble, inspired by events of the Gravity Falls finale. Not super edited as a result, but a fun one-shot nonetheless!
> 
> ((Would also love suggestions for a better title; I'm not sold on this one!))

Everything went black.

Dipper felt the stars blink out, a wave of shadow surging across the sky in a single sweep. In one breath the world stole the wind from his lungs, spiraling the air around him into a tornado that trapped his soul. His whole being was encapsulated in this funnel of magic, the dusty fragments of the universe flinging up in puffs around where his body lay motionless. The sensation of being weightless finally set in, and as he began to float, he finally opened his eyes.

He couldn’t stay like this for long. Meditating into the mindscape let him pass through dimensions at will, and being conscious for the process helped him keep a grip on his own reality, but it was difficult to maintain. He exhaled, just to make sure he was still breathing. _Lungs are functional,_ he thought to himself before taking a slow turn to get his bearings.

 _Gravity Falls, Gravity Falls, Gravity Falls,_ he repeated to himself. Blood rushed to his head and his limbs tingled before his fingers went numb. This always scared him a little, but it was starting to become second nature. The moment of numbness meant it was working.

Dipper had been doing this meditation ritual for years since the Weirdmaggedon incident, but only recently had been able to ascend. He found could move himself to other bubbles of the mindscape this way, beyond his own little mind shack. Most of the time he found himself checking in on his second home, just to make sure nothing was askew. He theorized he was only able to do this because of the weirdness bubble that formed all that time ago, but since it hadn’t ever disappeared, the potential for more insanity to creep in was ever-present.

Sure, the immediate threat was gone, but it was comforting to know there was someone watching.

_Watching…_

He shuddered, feeling the cold wind rush behind his back, a pressure boring down at his back like a piercing gaze. He prayed Ford or Stan hadn’t found him, or worse, Mabel. She was always able to tell what he was up to. She would know what he was looking for.

For her sake, Dipper prayed he would never find it.

_We’ll meet again…_

The golden lights of the town washed out his shadow as he flew past, but the warmth of the lights did nothing to warm his frigid soul. He had been disembodied before, in the real-scape when he was a kid. It felt just like this, just as surreal, but this time he was in control. He never wanted to see himself face-to-face again.

_Don’t know where, don’t know when…_

A faint melody wafted across the breeze, a song that was both foreign but uncomfortably familiar, as if he should have known the words. Tonight had been eerily quiet, he’d noted as he scraped the sky. Usually themindscape was a cacophony of casual chats and forgotten phrases, wisps of words that wafted from open doors and crackling campfire circles and rose with the smoke until they stroked the stars.

Maybe the town was just tired. Dipper yawned. He should have been asleep in his own dream bubble by now too.

With his rounds nearly complete, Dipper floated back down to earth, the soles of his shoes scraping the well worn ledge. From here on high, he could see everything—the bridge, the water tower, the lake; the junkyard, the diner, the cemetery. _The Mystery Shack._ He turned his thoughts to where his own little mind light was glowing, and smiled a little. The dawn broke around him, brightening his outlook on tomorrow. It was the same every time. He knew he should stop worrying.

As he softly walked back into the darkness to gently return to slumber, the last phrase of the melody grazed his ears.

_I know we’ll meet again, some sunny day—_

He winced as the world slammed on the piano’s keys, covering his ears in pain as the final chord screeched like raucous, shrill laughter. Invisible hands clawed into his shoulders, and he felt his stomach turn upside-down. The next thing he knew, his feet had flown out from under him.

He was falling. The abyss was below, and a single eye stared down at him from above.

_Long time, no see, Pine Tree._

Dipper woke up screaming.


End file.
